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i'm a pretty involved alumnae. my chapter was never really great at alumnal relations, so it was something i made a point to work on as an alum.
at first i worked at getting the alumnae together. i set up a chapter email account (free one thru yahoo) and then i took over (politely!) the database of our chapter membership. i just started networking, etc. to find everyone. the internet is a wonderful tool for that, as is my university's online alumni directory.
then i set up the yahoo group and worked on a (very) crude version of a website for our chapter. i happened to be serving on the board of directors at the time, so i was able to get the chapter involved little by little.
for the most part, still to this day, the group, etc. is used and appreciated (on a certain level) more by the alumnae than the collegians, but that's not a bad thing. it's an easy outlet to rally support for the chapter events and whatnot when you have such a large, supportive foundation. now, i'm not saying that everyone has jumped at the chance to help the collegians. it is a process, and it can be a slow-moving one at that. but it's so easy to do... send an email here and there to let an alum know that the chapter knows they exist, etc. really pays off in the end.
and if you have any luck, eventually the collegians will realize that it's really easy to do and will want to work just as hard at it.
so... with you wanting to start while you're still in school, you alredy have a jump start!
hope that wasn't incessant rambling...
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